America's Got Powers #1
(Image Comics)
Story : Jonathan Ross & Bryan
Hitch
Story : Daniel Way
Story : Jeff Lemire
Suicide Squad #8 (DC)
Story : Adam Glass
Art : Bryan Hitch
(Reviewed by Anupam Sarker)
The story begins with a flashback to a
weird, big and shiny blue crystal landing in San Francisco, causing
every pregnant woman within a five mile radius from the crash site to
give birth. All these newborns had some special super-power except
for one unlucky chap named Tommy Watts a.k.a The Zero (means the guy
has Zero Power).
So what do these Super-powered kids do
when they grow up? They join a reality TV show called America's Got
Powers where all Super-powered folks compete to be in the world's
biggest superhero team. And what does Tommy Watts do when he grows
up? He does menial jobs at a stadium called Powers Arena where the
TV show competition takes place.
Back to the present, Tommy and his
friend dress as mascots and go about the arena. Sometime after the
show has started, a super-powered guy is thrown out of the arena by
the gigantic robots and explodes against the barrier wall, causing
civilians to get inside the arena. A kid also gets into the arena and
Tommy jumps in to save him. The issue ends with Tommy being revealed
to have an unknown type and level of super-power while saving the
kid.
I'm a big fan of Jonathan Ross.
He is responsible for Turf, a five-issue Image mini which was
awesome. But I'm pretty disappointed with the familiarity of the
story. I mean, after reading the first few pages of the comic, one
already knows what is going to happen. The concept of the comic
sounds loosely based on another Image series by Todd Nauck
called Wildguard, a comic where super-powered folks enter a
reality TV show to join the world’s biggest superhero team (talk
'bout uncanny similarities)
Bryan Hitch's art is pretty
good, but sometimes the faces seem to get sloppy or out of
proportion.
Overall, the comic is interesting with
some amazing visuals and extremely awesome colours by Paul Mounts
and attractive letters by Chris Eliopoulos.
If you are looking for an awesome comic
which will get more awesome in the next issues, then this is your
thing.
P.S- Image Comics publisher Eric
Stephenson does a cameo in a panel of the comic.
SCORE : 8.5 / 10
Deadpool #53
(Marvel)
Art : Alex Garza
(Reviewed by Anant Sagar)
No No No!! What has Deadpool done? You
want to know? No? Well too bad. Wade here has gone and made himself
normal. Well okay, normal is relative. He’s now mortal, he can die,
he can finally be with the love of his..err..life, Death.
Anyway down to business.
THE GOOD:-
As all of you following Deadpool would
know and agree with me. The story is excellent. Deadpool is finally
closer to dying. We know he wants to die so he can be with Death. So
now, with a serum, he actually loses his healing factor. Has X-force
after him, apart from Tombstone who wants to put a bullet
through his head. The art follows over from the old issues. The fact
that Deadpool is now mortal adds a nice twist to the way one would
perceive the issue.
THE BAD:-
The story has been going so well so
far. And when it comes to the story the only thing I can say is, WHY
IS HE MORTAL?? That’s something that’s going to make things weird
for a bit. But I guess it may become one of his many quirks. Or he’ll
just be dead. I doubt he’ll just stay dead. I don’t know,
Deadpool being normal-ish just doesn’t seem right. I guess only
time will tell.
THE FUNNY:-
As I have stated before. EVERYTHING!
My favourite moments include the
following (and everything else in the issue):
- the secret ingredient to the serum is
baby hair. (YES BABY HAIR!! Yikes!)
- Bob: “You’re not mad?”
DP: “I’m a MAD genius. Maybe....”
- E.V.A.? Expliquez. S’il vous plait.
- “it doesn’t work,” (expression)
“It doesn’t??” “it only works on you” “YESS”
- Deadpool getting smacked on the head
by Bob, yes Bob, with a pot.
My final opinion... I eagerly look
forward to the conclusion. I want it I want it I want it!!!
The story arc so far, 9 out of 10. Grab
a copy NOW!
SCORE : 8 / 10
Frankenstein Agent of SHADE #8
(DC)
Art : Alberto Ponticelli
(Reviewed by Rijul Raut)
I love done-in-ones. Writing for the
trade is something I can tolerate, and its ubiquity in recent comics
makes it all the sweeter when a good one-shot issue sneaks past that
combines characterization with plot relevancy. This issue is one of
that rare breed, mixing flashback with reality as a sort of mirror
(another semi-recent example would be Greg Rucka writing in
pre-reboot Detective Comics) and providing insight into that
issue that every Franken-fan has pondered - what caused Frankenstein
and his Bride to separate way back when?
SCORE : X / 10
Suicide Squad #8 (DC)
Art : Frederico Dallacchio
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
This is among the worst books DC has in
it's new line-up, but I can't lie – it's also one of the most
entertaining guilty pleasures.
Violent, blatant, shameless and
mindlessly entertaining, this new incarnation of the fan-favourite
and acclaimed Suicide Squad titles is nothing but the epitome of the
90's-style “EXTREME” that DC has been pushing in several of their
books – mostly in the crappier of the lot. But here it works
somehow, despite Glass' often mediocre writing and insufficient
characterization.
FOR THOSE JUST COMING IN:
The latest version of the squad is
officially known as Task Force-X and still run by Amanda Waller.
The mainstay members are Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Black Spider,
King Shark and El Diablo. In only seven short issues
they've had brutal missions including one where an entire stadium was
sealed off because it was possessed by something evil and not only
did they get team-mate Voltaic to kill them all, Deadshot
popped him in the head after that to pin it all on him. Between that
and other members getting their head blown off (literally!) by
nano-bombs they all have implanted in their necks (in case they get
frisky!), this has been a pretty hardcore series. Not to mention
Harley going AWOL and brutalising an entire police station after
hearing Joker died (read Detective Comics for more on
that story).
MOVING ON:
The last issue ended with Harley
finally getting what she deserved and after a bullet at extremely
close-range, being put down after her murder-spree of madness! Now
this issue she's been revived and given one last chance before they
pop her head like a potato in a microwave.
This one is kind of an interim issue in
that it follows what's happening with the squad after several
missions and the fallout for them, both personally and in terms of
their deal with Waller. In a sense this is the closest you'll see to
character development by Glass is my guess and he doesn't do too bad
a job on it here. El Diablo is now back on the team and Savant is
released back into the wild, his term complete and such, ending with
a deadly new mission ahead which promises that the next issue will be
a return to the usual bloody, violent and wicked form that makes this
title a success.
Don't get me wrong, I don't love it for
that, I just enjoy it and am willing to admit that if done well such
mindless fare can be fun too. However unless he can really up his
game, Glass should limit the characterization attempts and stick to
crazy adventures. The only thing that worries me is the rate at which
he's killing folks here, either they need to create a bunch more
characters that are there just to be killed brutally or try and find
adventures where they don't die quite so often or something. How long
this series will stay readable, I don't know – but for now it's
entertaining enough that I'll keep catching it when I see it.
SCORE : 6 / 10
